Should be an easy fun game if the bench decides they want to play basketball again.

"If you could stop all the players that get publicized and all the players that the NBA likes and all the players, you know, the players that win the MVP's, you know, for their offense. And some of them, you know, play pretty good defense too. But some of them, you know, they like "this guy he can shoot, he can score, he can dunk." and I want to be the one to stop all those guys, you know, and just kinda spoil the whole party." - Ron Artest

Philadelphia is a team with some talented young players but they have been inconsistent this season. They prefer to play at a frenetic, up-and-down pace. It will be up to us to make sure they have to execute offensively in the half court. If we take quick long shots or turn the ball over it will lead to a flurry of Philly points. The Sixers achieve most of their penetrations off the dribble and they have bigs who are active and long and do a good job of pursuing offensive rebounds. Our defenders on the perimeter must take away the direct line to the basket of the Philadelphia ball handlers. If we are not able to accomplish this task then our bigs on the back line of the defense will have to come over and help and that’s what opens the second chance opportunities for players such as Dalembert and Reggie Evans.

Philly does a great job of manufacturing points off of their defense. Andre Miller has a craftiness with the ball and is capable of creating offense in their secondary break situations. Their lane runners love to look for lobs and Miller is very good at making the long lob pass. We also need to stay down on his pump fakes. The Sixers have no designated 3 point shooter (however they do have players capable of having a hot night from behind the line) and are last in the NBA in 3 point shooting.

Defensively, the Sixers will pick up and pressure our guards up the court. They also like to deny wing entry passes so we must be ready to excute our automatic pressure releases within our offensive structure. Their overall goal is to create a situation where the offense plays at a faster pace than they normally do and the result will be turnovers that get turned quickly into points. The best part of their offense is their defense so we must be crisp with our passes. They have shown some zone defense and after our poor showing against the Dallas zone defense on Sunday we should expect to see some zone tonight.

Philly will play hard and compete tonight. They have young players who will gain confidence as the game goes on if we allow them to stay close. Our focus should be sharper than it was on Sunday.